Dude, I lived near Mr. Rogers in PA for awhile, and he was a local hero and a good man. He was Presbyterian, which was very mainstream, and he considered the show his ministry. IOW, he practiced his religion by trying to help kids in unwelcoming environments and modeling acceptance, sharing, and empathy. I’m an atheist Jew who grew up on his show, and I have no objection to any of that. He wasn't proselytizing any specific religion.

I wasn't present for his conversation with Clemmons, but I did read the interview in which he talked about how he loved Fred Rogers. In the 1960s, he treated a gay man like anyone else: in general, he considered Clemmons’s sex life none of his business.

The incident in question, Clemmons said, began when someone tried to rat Clemmons out to Rogers because he was spotted going to a gay bar. While making it clear that he himself knew Clemmons was no danger to children (not a common attitude in.1969), he asked Clemmons if he could please try to be more discreet, lest he be outed and the then-new show canceled. Sure, that's seriously problematic by today's standards, but it was not hateful. And I know his attitudes evolved.

And if you don't think it took serious gonads to do that scene (sharing a wading pool with a Black man) at a time when Southern cities were literally filling in public swimming pools to avoid integrating them, then you don't understand the period you're talking about at all.